Dogs can find places where bones were buried 2,700 years ago, even when the bones aren’t there anymore. You might want to read that again, because it’s astounding.
One of the highlights of my month was interviewing Cat Warren about this discovery, highlighted in her recent article in the New York Times, “When Cadaver Dogs Pick Up a Scent, Archaeologists Find Where to Dig.”
Author Cat Warren and Solo, a cadaver dog, training near the Eno River in Durham, North Carolina, Friday, July 8, 2011. Photo by D L Anderson.
Cat (a Professor of English at NCSU) has become both a colleague and friend, although we have never yet met. Her NYT best-selling book, What the Dog Knows, (also in a fantastic Young Reader edition) is one of my favorite memoirs. After we read each other’s books, Cat and I have bonded over our love affair with working dogs, and our commitment to good writing. Someday I will get to watch her work her cadaver dogs (also called HRDs, or “human-remains detection dogs”), and she will come and witness one of my dogs working sheep. But for now, we talk on the phone. What a joy it was to get the inside story from her on dogs as archaeologists. As if they weren’t amazing enough already.
Here’s the bottom line: Dogs have been able to find evidence of human bones that have been in the ground for 2,700 years. But it gets better than that. Four HRD dogs, including Panda below, were able to detect burial chests at an archaelogical dig site in Croatia, where bones and teeth had lain for almost three thousand years, but had been removed by archaeologists months before. The dogs alerted on limestone burial containers that had held human remains for 2,700 years, but the bones were not there anymore, and had been gone for several months.
Panda, searching for the scent of human remains in Croatia, Photo by Zlatko Balaš
Here’s a short video that shows the dogs in action: (Video great, music awful, I suggest playing on mute.)
The dogs were trained by Andrea Pintar and her husband Christian Nikolić, and already had experience searching for human remains which had been buried for many years, including sites of mass executions going all the way back to World War II. Cat explained to me that most cadaver dogs would not be able to detect remains that had been in the ground so long. Not because their dogs aren’t capable of it, but because the dogs normally move too fast to detect such weak odors. Mali and Panda had intentionally been trained to alert to teeth and bones that had been in the ground for decades, and to move oh-so-slowly over sites that might, or might not, contain ancient evidence of human remains.
Archaelogist Vedrana Glavaš had reached out to Andrea in hopes that her dogs could discover if her team had missed any burial sites in the prehistoric hill fort of Drvišica.
The prehistoric hill fort of Drvišica, photo by Vedrana Glavaš
Not only did the dogs find new sites, they alerted on burial chests which had already been found, and had had the human remains removed. Cat explained to me that the conditions were perfect: the limestone burial chests were the perfect material to hold the scent in place. So many factors influence were the scent remains: soil type, moisture, water flow, etc.
I love that the work was done as a scientific experiment: Could dogs help archaeologists by detecting ancient human remains? The study was carefully controlled, and included double-blind searches in which no one knew if the sites contained remains or not. The results were published in September 2019, in the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory and will no doubt inspire archaeologists around the world.
However, this work has been going on under the radar for years, including here in the United States. Suzi Goodhope and her Belgain Malanois Shiraz found a human toe bone that was 1,700 years old, buried three feet under ground in Florida. Paul Martin and his dog found Indian mounds with human remains in Mississippi that had been flattened by agriculture.
And yet, no one still knows exactly what scent the dogs are focused on. There are hundreds of volatile organic compounds that dogs could be using to identify “human remains,” and no one knows what they are. Except the dogs, and they aren’t talking. Yet. Who knows what else they’ll be able to tell us in the future . . .
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Sheep! Skip! Skip on Sheep! But . . . for short periods of time. With a few days rest in between. And a lack of clarity about whether he is truly ready once we gave it a try. His physical therapist said yes, he’s ready to try. He shows no sign of limping, short striding or abducting his knee when he’s walking or trotting. Or, does he short stride a tiny bit on his right hind? If he does, it’s so subtle that Courtney isn’t sure she’s seeing something, or just imagining it.
However, now that he is allowed to run, I can see his right knee moves off to the side the tiniest bit more than the left. Meaningful? Most importantly, did he always do that? Argh, the challenges of a new dog being injured soon after you get him. What is his “usual”? What’s not? I hereby beg all of you to video your dogs from the back and the side, both walking and trotting. Slow motion is best, which you can do on any relatively new iPhone. If you do, you’ll know what ‘normal’ is, if your dog is injured.
You might also want to avoid having your recently-injured dog leap over a two and a half-foot fence panel while chasing after a ewe. Skip lost his head and charged into the sheep on Saturday, and disappeared over the horizon, hot on her hooves. As I ran after them, all I could see was grass and sky. Imagine my surprise when suddenly I saw Skip air-borne, with the sky as a background, leaping over a fence panel. It was an amazing act of athleticism; he clearly hadn’t even seen the panel in his pursuit of the sheep. He must have had to make a split-second decision to leap over it to avoid running into it. I wish I could show you the picture that is burned into my brain, because it was gorgeous and dramatic, and, uh, terrifying for someone whose dog had recently been badly injured. Here is Skip and the panel he lept:
My heart in my throat, (another two months of leash restrictions and PT?), I caught up to Skip and called him off. I can’t blame him much for what he did, given his lack of work for two months. In addition, I suspect it had something to do with the cue I gave him. If I want Maggie to go around clockwise or counterclockwise with speed, I just say “Shuuush” rather than “Come By” or “Away”. Maggie needs encouraging, and loves to stay well back from the sheep. This is great with flighty sheep, but means she struggles to move “heavy” sheep. Skip is not going to have that problem. A young, freight train of a dog, he needs to be slowed down, the opposite of Maggie. I should have given him his regular flank signal. Live and learn.
After we got back to the house I iced Skip’s knee. I’ve kept him quiet for the last two days, and so far I think he’s okay. (The ewe is fine by the way.) Cross your paws.
Skip would like to work sheep again, please. One day at a time, son.
Quercus Land Stewardship came back this morning to burn the brush piles from all the honeysuckle they cut last month. Very dramatic, given that there were more than 10 piles over all.
I hope that some parts of your week have brought you respite from the trials and traumas of the world around us. And I’d love to hear if you’ve done scent work with your dogs, and what, if anything, has surprised you by it.
Debby Gray says
I cannot wrap my mind around” Shiraz found a human toe bone buried three feet under ground in Florida.” And you ask about scent training in our dogs? Well I think even without extensive training my dog could find archeological significant cat poop.
I’m so glad Skip seems to be doing so well.
Joy Waddington says
Fantastic stuff! Love Cat Warren’s book which I read years ago and still recommend it to anyone interested in any sort of scent-detection work. Scent-detection work is my passion.
Trisha says
Ha! Oh yes, even Tootsie probably could find fossilized cat poop!
Cathy Balliu says
Ah, the joys of working 2 completely different dogs on stock or agility. It’s what keeps us nimble as trainers/handlers lol
Gayla says
I originally bought Echo specifically to train her as a cadaver dog for the SAR team I was on. At the time, we only had ‘wilderness live find’ animals and really needed some cadaver dogs too. Outfitting yourself for this training is expensive and tricky. (Real human remains can be a little hard to get your hands on :>) Months and money later, I introduced her to it and she showed aversion to scent! I mean, EXTREME aversion to scent!!
Sigh…
Jim says
My dog still knows there is a 20 year old dog snack under the stove that’s never been vacuumed.
Barb Stanek says
Oh, Trisha. Have I done scentwork?! I started my then 12 year old Portuguese Water Dog in National Association of Canine Scent Work (NACSW) and never looked back. I’m currently starting my fourth PWD (puppy) in it.
It is far and away my favorite sport. Every dog that has done it finds scentwork to be his/her favorite activity. Their enthusiasm for the hunt knows no bounds.
The sport focuses on the dog. As a handler, I support my dog. After all, I can’t smell what he/she can, so the ball is really in the dog’s court, so to speak. As you might expect, putting the dog out front requires much from us humans who tend to fall on the side of dog control given the opportunity. The dogs learn what is required in scent work quickly. For the humans, it is a never ending journey requiring on-going travels into the marvelous universe where dogs live.
I imagine that my love of the sport is obvious! I have studied dogs and dog behavior for years and came into scent work feeling confident that I knew dogs. I did know some about dogs. But I certainly didn’t know how mind blowing they were when they used their noses. Please, all of you who haven’t tried scent work yet, the next time you have a minute, try scent work. You will learn tons about your dog and form a partnership stronger than you ever imagined.
Side note. NACSW trains instructors. The training course is rigorous and emphasises scent work training through positive reinforcement methods. Instructors are known as Certified Nose Work Instructors (CNWI). It would be worth your time to begin your scent work with one of these instructors.
Trisha says
Gayla, ah life! So sorry about Echo’s response!
Trisha says
Jim, thanks for the spit take. (Just to be clear, when I say that I probably actually did spit out whatever I was drinking. Be aware of that when making me laugh if we are eating together. Just saying.)
Trisha says
Thanks for the encouragement Barb, love your enthusiasm!
Melissa says
I started nose work with my 6 year old Doberman, Brandy 7 years ago. She had a lot of confidence issues and I think the best thing about it was watching her grow! The dog that was afraid of walking into the training building to start classes, ended up searching schools, fair grounds and baseball stadiums. We had a lot of success before she had to retire at age 11 due to health issues. It was truly an incredible journey. I’m happy to be able to continue it with our now four year Doberman, Newton.
Debbie Cooper says
Greetings from the UK, my first contrition – love doing scent work with my four WCS, hiding money, keys, other various scented articles for them to find. They think its the best thing ever and it makes my heart sing watching them work and locate a find.
j says
My congenitally blind border collie does some nose work and tracking, as much as his skittishness allows. Because he is not distracted by visual cues and because he is also hearing impaired, watching him work is to see his world almost entirely through his nose- which is primarily how he senses it. Scent in the environment is a very, very tricky thing: ephemeral, flirtatious, mercurial, unforgiving. What the dogs need to process in order to get any location or direction from it is extraordinary.
Tails Around the Ranch says
Pretty incredible! I’d love to teach my guys scent work but don’t know how to start and where to begin. Given the pandemic restrictions, classes aren’t in the foreseeable future either. Both have great noses and I think might be decent at it. With pet therapy work non-existent these days, the 3 of us need to find other ways to challenge our minds.
Bruce says
It would be fascinating to do a scent class with Red Dog because, other than sniffing where dogs have marked, she seems to be almost exclusively focused on sight and hearing.
For example, if she crosses a scent trail left by a squirrel, she drops her nose to confirm the scent and then, rather than following the trail, immediately lifts her head and scans for movement and sound.
So scent class would be interesting. Or perhaps hilarious. But I keep wondering what would happen if a sight-oriented dog tried nose work with (I would guess) a class filled with hounds and retrievers. And probably border collies, ‘cuz they are oh so good at everything. 🙂
Does anyone have experience with trying nose work with a sight- and hearing-oriented dog?
Trisha says
Not my wheelhouse, Bruce, but I understand that there are ‘tracking’ and ‘trailing’ dogs. Training is what your dog is doing, and it is a perfectly valid way of following a scent. I’m sure each method has
advantages in different settings…. scent experits, weigh in here!
Melissa McCue-McGrath says
Hi Bruce!
There are two major “brands” of scenting. There is trailing (nose to the ground, what you think of a beagle doing when their adorable ears are flopping on the ground, pulling odor into their nasal passages, weaving back and forth following the scent on the ground) and Air Scenting where a dog will use his or her nose to pick up scent particles on the wind and in the air.
In search and rescue work (SAR), they focus on each of these specialties as individual skills, and specifically train for each skill independently.
My understanding (which isn’t very deep!) that trailing dogs (nose-to-ground) are called in for more time sensitive situations and when a point last seen is definite or can be assumed. The dog is called in, and picks up the scent off the ground and follows it to the sources (usually dropped human cells, adrenaline, etc)
Air scenting dogs would usually be used for cases where there’s a missing hiker *somewhere* in the national park. The dog picks up odor in the air and follows it to an origin (highest concentration). These tend to have sub-specialties like avalanche dogs, water search dogs, cadaver dogs, wilderness searching dogs and urban disaster (the 9/11 dogs, for example).
In many cases, if resources are available, both are used if the case calls for it as the skills vary and can be used as tools, but that’s the extent of what I understand 🙂
But going back to the question about sighthounds in nosework: I personally had a greyhound who did nosework, and have taught classes where we have all kinds of dogs who play -including other sight hounds.
They pick up the game just like every other dog – they have a hard time sometimes with hunching over and doing ground searches, and in my experience it seems like they have an easier time looking on chairs or slightly higher hides (a hide is the thing we want them to find – it’s food at the beginning, but eventually we pair that with the odor we want them to find – in sports, it’s birch oil, clove oil, anise oil or cypress oil…and my students who have been in quarantine and doing a virtual class, I had them pair with something I thought they had at home: Vanilla on a Qtip 🙂 So there are 4 dogs in the metro-Boston area who are trained to find imitation vanilla!)
If someone were pairing for Search and Rescue, Cadaver dogs, explosive detection, narcotics detection, bug detection (bed bugs, or art museums who use pest detection dogs), you train essentially the same way. You pair food to the odor you want them to hit on, you start hiding that odor, and reward with either food (most dogs) or play (police canines and not uncommonly, Border collies!)
And funny enough, I’ve owned each of the dogs Bruce mentioned, and they have all done a version of scent work/nosework. Captain is a beagle somethingsomething mix and this is his sport. He could search all day (and he has! He did a few hours at the Museum of Science earlier this year doing scent work demos for a dog exhibit!)
The Border collie was into it, and it calmed her down in a way that no other activity did, but she wouldn’t work for food – so instead of hiding food, we used a tennis ball.
The greyhound loved searching for food and playing these games, but he’d exhaust after 3 or 4 searches while the other two could go all day long 🙂 The handful of other greyhounds I’ve worked with in scenting classes tend to also get more tired as they hunt but man they have a good time!
JMM says
Bruce, there are folks who do nosework with greyhounds, and you don’t get much more sight focused than that. Oh, I see the poster above me know way more about that. 🙂
Super interesting stuff, Tricia! Thanks for sharing.
I’m glad Skip is seemingly no worse for wear after his adventure. I imagine you felt like I did when my 13+ greyhound made a gazelle-like leap over a snowbank taller than her.
Bruce says
Thank you so much for the detailed reply, Melisssa! And thank you, Trisha, for calling forth a subject matter expert!
JMM, I appreciate your perspective, too!
Carol says
I am looking for a fantastic trainer by the names of Indians Jones. He has been recommended to me by several peoples. Do you have a name and contact number for him.
Thank you
Carol McClendon